I went to Portland from November 18th to 21th, and I had a wonderful time there. It was not only a fun trip, but also a trip to learn cultural differences. What I especially liked was visiting Columbia Basin College. At the university, I learned a lot of things like about students who were studying Japanese, sharing our cultures, and my presentation topic.
First, I went to a class room to see students in a Japanese class, and I realized that they were really interested in Japanese culture or people, because their eyes were shining and looked at us with much curiousity. Then, we began to talk with them. They talked to me much more than other students that I met in high school. They said that the hardest thing about studying Japanese was the Chinese characters, and those were like just lines. Although they just started learning Japanese in September, they knew a lot of things about Japan, so I was impressed by their endurance because I have been studying English for about 8 years but I am still a greenhorn. I think it is because they have a clear goal: students who I talked first, said that they want to be teachers in Japan. I thought that was great because most of us don't have clear goals yet. My goal is also unstable so I was encouraged by their energy.
Second, I was asked many things about Japanese culture, like what differences there are between American schools and Japanese schools. I was at a loss for responses, because they asked me a lot of things that I had rarely thought about I thought it was difficult to explain about them to students, but they listened with interest so I was glad. I learned from them about differences between community college and university. They said that community college took 2 years to graduate, on the other hand, university took 4 years to graduate. Also, the degrees are different; community college students can get an associate degree, and university students can get a master degree, bachelor degree, and so on. I was curious to hear this, because I didn't know either American degree system or Japanese degree system. What I was surprised about was there were students who were 26 years old and 27 years old. This is unusual for me. Unfortunately, I could not ask the reason because it was too personal so I want to ask someone about this.
Finally, I explained about my presentation topic: wabi sabi. As a matter of course, nobody knew about wabi sabi. I thought I was able to explain it properly, but sadly I couldn't. I was hasty, although they listened carefully because I thought they might have no interest, and I did not have clear examples to explain wabi sabi. I really regretted it and thought that I really didn't understand how much Americans did not have any idea about wabi sabi. However, it was a great opportunity to know how much they and I did not understand it. Once Christopher said it would be the hardest to explain wabi sabi, and I realized what he meant at last, but if I did not talk with students, I could not know how they would feel when they heard about it, so I was glad to go there and talk with them.
In conclusion, although I was depressed that I could not explain my presentation topic clearly, I learned a lot about their culture and thinking from students at Columbia Basin College and what I need to do for my presentation. It was a great experience for me.
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